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The BBC is bringing iPlayer to Windows Phone – but you’ll have to wait a few months

Good news Windows Phone users, the BBC has announced that its catch-up TV service iPlayer will be landing on Windows Phone 7.5 and Windows Phone 8 devices “in the next few months”.

The UK broadcaster has inked a deal with Microsoft that will see its uber-popular streaming app arrive on Windows Phone by summer time, adding to its existing mobile incarnations for Android, BlackBerry and iOS.

However, the app will actually come in the form of a shortcut that wraps the mobile website version of iPlayer with its media player app – which the BBC developed to circumvent issues with Flash on Android – allowing iPlayer to work on Windows Phone 7.5/8 handsets via a live tile. It will be available to download via the Windows Phone Store.

“Working with the industry in ways like this helps our digital services reach more of the UK’s online population and gives our audiences ever increasing ways to access BBC services,” says Cyrus Saihan, head of Business Development, BBC Future Media.

Certainly, this is big news from Microsoft’s perspective which is looking to raise the appeal of Windows Phone, so including flagship apps such as iPlayer will go some way towards doing so. We’re told that there are no immediate plans to include the global version of iPlayer on Windows Phone – indeed, that has yet to come to Android either.